Chapter 2

Sienna POV

Three days after signing the agreement, Yolanda made her high-profile comeback with "The Deer Above the Clouds."

News articles flooded every outlet praising Yolanda as a "talented beauty author," saying she used fairy tales to heal herself and the world.

I sat in my dim room, watching Yolanda's radiant smile on the screen, my heart bleeding with every beat.

But I didn't even have time to grieve.

The care facility called. Something had happened to Oliver.

I stumbled to the facility in a panic. When I arrived, Oliver was curled in the corner of the art room, trembling violently, clutching broken paintbrush shards in his hands. Torn papers littered the floor.

"Oliver!"

I rushed over and wrapped my brother tightly in my arms.

Oliver was an autistic savant. He couldn't speak, so all his emotions came through in his art.

Every illustration in "The Deer Above the Clouds" had been drawn by Oliver, stroke by painstaking stroke.

"The deer... it's gone..."

Oliver forced out a few words, his eyes filled with terror and despair.

My heart felt like it was tearing apart.

I turned around to see Yolanda standing at the art room door, with Ethan beside her.

Yolanda wore a pristine white dress, looking like an innocent angel.

She hid behind Ethan, her eyes rimmed with red.

"Ethan, I just wanted to visit Oliver and let him know his paintings would be published under my name from now on, so he wouldn't worry. Who knew he'd suddenly go crazy and almost hurt me..."

My brain exploded with rage.

It wasn't just the words. They were stealing Oliver's artwork too!

"Yolanda Reed, do you have no conscience?!"

I stood up.

"Stealing my book wasn't enough? You had to come provoke Oliver too? Those paintings are his life!"

I lunged forward to push Yolanda away, but Ethan grabbed my wrist and flung me aside violently.

I lost my balance and crashed hard onto the floor covered with torn paper. A broken paintbrush sliced open my palm, leaving a long gash that bled profusely.

Ethan looked down at me from above, his eyes full of warning.

"Sienna, have you lost your mind? Yolanda came here out of kindness to visit him, and your brother not only showed no gratitude but almost injured her hand. She's a violinist. Don't you know how important her hands are?"

I lay on the floor, staring at my bleeding palm, and laughed.

Yolanda's hands mattered, but my brother's life didn't?

"Ethan, are you blind?"

I pointed at Oliver cowering and trembling in the corner.

"She came here to steal Oliver's paintings! She's the one who pushed him to this!"

"Enough!"

Ethan cut me off coldly.

"It seems this facility is no longer suitable for Oliver. I'll arrange to send him to a closed psychiatric rehabilitation center abroad. There, he can receive proper discipline."

I felt like I'd been plunged into ice water.

A closed rehabilitation center abroad. In other words, a psychiatric institution.

For someone like Oliver, going there was a death sentence.

"No! You can't take Oliver away!"

Ignoring my injured hand, I crawled over and clutched Ethan's legs desperately.

"Mr. Pierce, I'm begging you. I gave you the book, I gave you the paintings, let Yolanda take everything, all of it! Just please don't send Oliver away. He'll die without me!"

I abandoned every shred of dignity, humbling myself to dust.

Ethan looked down at me clinging to his legs, his brow furrowing slightly.

But then Yolanda gently tugged at his sleeve.

"Ethan, I'm so scared. Oliver looked terrifying just now..."

Yolanda leaned weakly against his shoulder.

Ethan's gaze hardened once more.

He pried my fingers off one by one, his voice utterly flat.

"This isn't up for discussion. Keeping him here will only make him a threat to Yolanda. Tomorrow morning, I'll have someone pick him up."

With that, he put his arm around Yolanda and left the art room without looking back.

I collapsed on the floor, watching their retreating figures, tears streaming down uncontrollably.

I had always thought that even though Ethan was cold, he at least had some compassion for me.

Now I understood. In Yolanda's presence, my brother and I didn't even qualify as human beings.

We were just stepping stones on Yolanda's path to success, ready to be crushed at any moment.

I turned and held Oliver, burying my face in my brother's thin shoulder, crying silently.

I had to find a way to save my brother.

Even if it cost me my life, I couldn't let Ethan take Oliver away.